U.S. patent number 4,073,520 [Application Number 05/707,402] was granted by the patent office on 1978-02-14 for latch mechanism.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Nissan Motor Company, Limited. Invention is credited to Hiroshi Fujii, Yoshimasa Tsuchiya.
United States Patent |
4,073,520 |
Tsuchiya , et al. |
February 14, 1978 |
Latch mechanism
Abstract
A latch mechanism comprises a latch member having a latch
portion having spaced recess walls defining a recess. One of the
recess walls is disposed across a keeper bar receiving slot in the
path of a keeper bar entering the slot for rotation of the latch
member to a latch position against the force of a latch spring,
while the opposite recess wall being positioned to move across the
keeper bar receiving slot behind the keeper bar as the latch member
moves to the latched position to confine the keeper bar within the
slot. The opposite recess wall has a slanted face which when the
latch member is in the latched position contacts with the keeper
bar to urge the keeper bar into contact with one of parallel sides
of the slot, to hold the keeper bar therebetween.
Inventors: |
Tsuchiya; Yoshimasa (Sayama,
JA), Fujii; Hiroshi (Niiza, JA) |
Assignee: |
Nissan Motor Company, Limited
(Yokohama, JA)
|
Family
ID: |
14403105 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/707,402 |
Filed: |
July 21, 1976 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Aug 31, 1975 [JA] |
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50-105275 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
292/216;
292/DIG.55 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E05B
83/16 (20130101); Y10S 292/55 (20130101); Y10T
292/1047 (20150401) |
Current International
Class: |
E05B
65/19 (20060101); E05B 65/12 (20060101); E05C
003/26 () |
Field of
Search: |
;292/216,DIG.41,280,DIG.40,DIG.55,241 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Moore; Richard E.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Jordan; Frank J.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. In a vehicle having a vehicle body;
a body element;
a member hinged to the vehicle body and overlapping said body
element;
a compressible seal disposed between said body element and said
member;
a keeper secured to one of said body element and said member;
a latch plate secured to the other one of said body element and
said member, said latch plate having spaced walls defining a keeper
receiving slot extending inwardly from the edge thereof, said walls
defining an inner section having approximately parallel spaced
sides for the reception of said keeper therebetween and a section
having outwardly diverging sides for guiding said keeper to said
inner section;
a latch member pivotally mounted on said latch plate for rotation
between a latched and an open position;
a latch spring mounted on said latch plate urging said latch member
toward the open position;
a detent pivotally mounted on said latch plate, said detent having
a detent arm positioned to engage the perimeter of said latch
member and an actuating arm;
a detent spring mounted on said latch plate urging said detent arm
against the perimeter of said latch member;
said latch member having a latch portion, said latch portion having
spaced recess walls defining a recess in an edge thereof, one of
said recess walls being disposed across said keeper receiving slot
in the path of said keeper entering said keeper receiving slot for
rotation of said latch member to the latched position against the
force of said latch spring in response to movement of said keeper
into said keeper receiving slot, the opposite recess wall being
positioned to move across said keeper receiving slot behind said
keeper as said latch member moves toward the latched position to
confine said keeper within said keeper receiving slot;
said opposite wall having a slanted face which is inclined with
respect to a plane perpendicular to a line along which said keeper
moves to provide an arrangement in which, when said member hinged
to the vehicle body overlaps said body element, said compressible
seal is compressed to bias said keeper within said keeper receiving
slot toward said slanted face to urge said keeper into firm
engagement with one of said approximately parallel spaced sides.
Description
The present invention relates to a latch for latching a lid element
of an automobile, such as an engine hood, a trunk lid, a tail gate,
or a door element, such as a side door, a hatch back door, in
closed position.
The important objects of the present invention are the provision of
a latch of the type described which is constructed of few parts, is
easy to assemble, and can be automated, is thin in cross-section so
that it will project a minimum distance into the compartment to be
closed.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear
from the following description and the accompanying drawings in
which:
FIG. 1 is a view showing the parts of a latch of the prior art in
latched position illustrated by solid line and in open or unlatched
position illustrated by phantom line;
FIG. 2 is a view, as seen from the right on FIG. 1, of the
latch;
FIG. 3 is a view partly broken away of the latch;
FIG. 4 is a view showing the parts of a latch according to the
present invention in latched position;
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a vector diagram of a force applied to
the keeper bar of the latch shown in FIG. 4; and
FIG. 6 is a view, as seen from the right on FIG. 4.
FIGS. 1-3 show a prior art latch 10, demonstrating how a keeper bar
12 is urged into contact with one of two parallel sides of a keeper
receiving slot 14. The latch 10 comprise a base 16 fixed to a body
element of an automobile body, both being not shown, and to the
base 16 is secured the U-shaped keeper bar 12 having its ends fixed
in the base 16 and its intermediate portion spaced from an
upstanding section 18 of the base 16.
Although not shown a deck lid element overlaps the body element and
a rubber seal is disposed between the deck lid and the body
element. The deck lid is hinged to the body.
The latch member includes a latch plate indicated generally by the
reference numeral 20 having openings therein 22 for affixing the
plate to the lid with one side abutting the lid and the other side
open or free of body obstructions, as by bolts, not shown.
The latch plate 20 comprises an attachment portion indicated at 24
having the openings 22, the plate 20 being formed with an area
providing an intermediate mounting portion 26 and a keeper engaging
portion 28.
The lower edge of the keeper engaging portion 28 is provided with
the keeper receiving slot 14 having spaced substantially parallel
side walls 30 and 32 spaced a distance slightly greater than the
maximum width of the the keeper 12 for reception of the keeper
therebetween within the slot. The slot 14 also has outwardly
diverging walls 34 and 36 for guiding the keeper to the inner
section as the keeper moves into the slot 14.
A latch member 38 is pivotally mounted on a pin 39 and comprises a
flat piece of plate and is mounted in face to face relation with
the intermediate portion 26 of the latch plate 20. The latch member
38 is rotatable between a latched position shown in solid line in
FIG. 1 and an unlatched or open position as shown in phantom line
in FIG. 1. The latch member 38 is normally urged to the open
position by a helical spring 40. The latch member 38 has a shoulder
41 positioned to engage against an abutment 42 of the intermediate
portion 26 to limit rotation of the latch member 38 in a
counterclockwise direction about the mounting pin 39 and thereby
define the open position of the latch member 38. The latch member
has a latch section provided with a recess 44 defined by side wals
46 and 48 spaced a distance slightly greater than the maximum
cross-section of the keeper 12, the recess forming two nose
portions indicated by the numerals 50 and 52. The latch member 38
is mounted so that the latch section overlies the keeper engaging
portion of the latch plate 20 with the recess 44 overlying the slot
14 in the keeper engaging portion 28 of the latch plate 20 as will
be apparent from FIGS. 1 and 3.
In the open position of the lid the latch member 38 occupies the
position shown by the phantom line in FIG. 1 wherein the nose
portion extends 50 at an angle across the slot 14 of the plate 20
and the nose portion 52 is retracted so as to not obstruct the
entrance of the keeper 12 into the slot 14. As the deck lid is
moved toward a closed position the keeper 12 enters the inner
section of the slot 14 and in the course of this movement engages
against the wall 46 of the nose 50 thereby rotating the latch
member 38 from the position illustrated by the phantom line in FIG.
1 to the position illustrated by the solid line in FIG. 1 whereupon
the nose portion 52 moves in a clockwise direction to the position
shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, disposed crosswise of the slot
14 in the keeper engaging portion 28 and acts to confine the keeper
12 within the slot 14. As the latch member 38 moves to the latched
position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 a shoulder 54 on the
periphery of the latch member 38 moves past the end 56 of a detent
58 which drops behind the shoulder 54 to retain the latch member 38
in the latched position against the action of the spring 40 and any
force which may be exerted between the keeper 12 and the latch
member 38 tending to move the latch member to its open
position.
The detent 58 comprises a flat plate mounted intermedite its ends
on a pin 60 in coplanar relation to the latch member 38, the pin 60
being mounted in the latch plate 20. A helical spring 62 acts to
urge the detent 58 in a clockwise direction so that the detent arm
56 normally rides the perimeter of the latch member 38. The detent
58 also has an actuating arm extending from the pin 60 in a
somewhat opposite direction from that of the detect arm 56, the
actuating arm having a bearing projection 64 adapted to be operated
to move from the position shown by solid line in FIG. 1 to the
position shown by phantom line in FIG. 1 against the action of the
helical spring 62.
When the lid is in closed or latched position as shown by solid
line in FIG. 1, rotating the detent 58 to the position shown by
phantom line in FIG. 1 will release the latch member 38 for
rotation to the position shown by phantom line in FIG. 1. Such
rotation is brought about by the helical spring 40 which normally
urges the latch member to this position. However when the lid is
inclosed position the rubber seal is normally somewhat compressed
and consequently when the latch member 38 is released the keeper 12
moves downwardly with respect to the slot 14 in the latch plate 20
to a position such as to enable the spring 40 to rotate the latch
member 38 until the shoulder engages the stop 42 thus completely
releasing the keeper 12 from the latch member 38.
When the lid is in closed position the base 16 and the keeper 12 is
biased downwardly with respect to the slot 14 due to the
compression of the rubber seal as explained above, the keeper 12
firmly engages the nose portion 52 of the latch member 38 with a
force indicated by an arrow 66 as shown in FIG. 3. In the closed
position of the deck lid a wedge piece 68 engages the perimeter of
the upstanding section 18 of the base 16 to urge the base 16
rightwardly with respect to the latch plate 20 as viewed in FIG. 3
thus preventing the base 16 and the keeper 12 from moving with
respect to the latch plate 20 rightwardly or leftwardly as viewed
in FIG. 3.
The wedge piece 68 is slidably mounted on a rod 72 mounted in a
bracket 74 which is fixedly secured to the opposite side of the
intermediate mounting portion from the side on which the latch
member 38 is mounted as best seen in FIG. 2. The wedge piece 68 is
positioned to abut the upstanding section of the base 16 when the
deck lid is in closed position and a helical spring 76 mounted
around the rod 72 and urging the wedge piece 68 downwardly with
resepct to the rod 72 as viewed in FIG. 3 acts to urge the base
rightwardly as viewed in FIG. 3.
FIGS. 4-6 show the improved latch 10a of the present invention in
which the wedge piece 68, rod 72, bracket 74 and spring 76 are
eliminated and the latch member 38 is replaced with a new latch
member 38a with the other parts of the latch which are
unchanged.
The new latch member 38a is best shown in FIGS. 4 and 6. It differs
from the latch member 38 of the prior art latch 10 in that its
recess wall to confine the keeper 12 within the keeper receiving
slot 14 is not that of the latch member 38. The recess wall 48a
which in cooperation with a recess wall 46 defines a recess 44a has
a slanted face which is inclined with respect to a plane
perpendicular to a line X--X (see FIG. 6) along which the keeper 12
moves when the deck lid is opened or closed. The slanted face is
positioned to contact with the keeper 12 at a point P.sub.1 (see
FIG. 6) when the deck lid is in the closed position to urge the
keeper 12 into contact with a side wall 32 of the keeper receiving
slot 14, the contact point of the keeper 12 with the side wall 32
being indicated by P.sub.2 (see FIG. 6), to interpose the keeper 12
therebetween.
In FIG. 6 a line connecting the point P.sub.1 with the center
C.sub.1 of the keeper bar 12 forms an angle .theta. with the line
X--X. When the deck lid is in closed position the keeper 12 is
biased downwardly with respect to the keeper receiving slot 14 with
a force W due to the compression of the rubber seal disposed
between the deck lid and the body element. With this force W the
keeper 12 is urged toward the recess wall 48a with a force F.sub.1
and toward the side wall 32 with a force F.sub.2. The forces
F.sub.1 and F.sub.2 are the components of the force W and can be
represented as follows:
where cos.theta. = W/F.sub.1
where tan.theta. = F.sub.2 /W
it will now be appreciated that the latch 10a according to the
present invention does not require, for urging the keeper 12 toward
the side wall 32 of the keeper receiving slot 14, means
corresponding to the wedge piece 68, rod 72, spring 76 and bracket
74 which is necessary in the prior art latch 10, and thus the latch
according to the present invention has fewer parts, is easy to
assemble and can be automated, is thin in cross section so that it
will project a minimum distance into the compartment to be closed
by the deck lid.
From the comparison of FIG. 5 with FIG. 2 it will be observed that
the cross section L of the latch 10a according to the present
invention has been reduced considerably by the elimination of the
wedge piece 68 of the prior art latch 10 and it will also be
observed that the height H of the keeper of the latch 10a has been
reduced.
In the latch 10a according to the present invention it is desirable
to reinforce connection between the keeper 12 and the upstanding
section 18 of the base 16 so as to withstand the force F.sub.2
applied to the keeper 12 when the deck lid is in closed
position.
* * * * *